LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — May 27–31, 2026, Page 3

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teachings or practices. Such activities violate Const. Art. VI 2 and give the sort of offense
contemplated in Const. Art. XIII 1’s offensive conduct.
This sort of offense presents a second manner (in addition to not teaching entirely in accordance with the
confessional standard of the Synod), perhaps not the last imaginable, in which a member of the Synod
teaching in a higher education institution—other than one regulated by the Synod under its Const. Art. II
confessional standard—that is preparing individuals for ministry could run afoul of the conditions of
membership. As the commission noted in the above-cited opinion, “Whether or not any particular activity
or ‘fact situation’ would be determined to constitute unionism or syncretism and, therefore, to constitute a
violation of the conditions of membership in the Synod, falls outside of the authority of the Commission
on Constitutional Matters. Such a decision is properly the responsibility of the ecclesiastical supervisor of
that member.”
That said, such teaching per se is not a violation of the conditions of membership in the Synod, even if it
contributes to the formation of church workers for service outside the Synod. While the situation is not
exactly the same, the commission notes an analogy to the fact that an ordained member of the Synod may,
while a member of the Synod, serve a congregation that is not a member of the Synod (as provided for
under Bylaw 2.11.1 [c] and in the tradition stretching back to the Synod’s beginning).
Question 2:

A congregation establishes a non-rostered “leader” of a “campus” of a congregation, who
functions in most if not all ways as the pastor loci (preaching, conducting the service, and
providing pastoral leadership). Members refer to him as pastor, though he is not listed
publicly as such. Is this contrary to Bylaw 2.5.2 and, if so, what recourse does the Synod
have?

Opinion 2:
Without commenting on the particular fact pattern, the commission addresses itself to the
question of whether a congregation of the Synod may be served in a pastoral capacity by an individual who
is not eligible under Bylaw 2.5.2 to be called to do so or to serve otherwise in that capacity. The commission
noted the following in its Op. 23-3009 (minutes of April 28–29, 2023). This opinion traced the development
of Bylaw 2.5.2 from 1969 Res. 5-23, “To Reiterate in Bylaws that Member Congregations Must Be Served
by Members of the Synod,” through the changes made by 2001 Res. 7-12, “To Separate Calling and Service
of Clergy from Other Church Workers,” concluding that:
The terms call and be served by [in Bylaw 2.5.2] are not to be regarded as synonyms. In
today’s practice many others are serving congregations by leading worship without a call.
Emeritus pastors regularly serve as vacancy pastors, at times for congregations not in the
process of calling, or regularly simply serve in vacant congregations every Sunday, often
for periods of a year or more, which might include offering the sacraments and conducting
weddings and funerals. Ordained ministers on candidate status also are eligible to serve in
the same way. Students from the seminaries of the Synod lead worship in congregations
that have no pastor. Vicars on occasion are the only one serving congregations with their
supervising pastor called by and serving a neighboring congregation. While these other
instances of serving reflect a wide variety, what is consistent is that those serving are either
ordained members of the Synod, or students authorized by a seminary of the Synod and
under the supervision of an ordained member of the Synod.
In regard to the question posed in Op. 23-3009, as to whether a congregation that has “as its worship leader
a pastor, not called by the congregation, who is Lutheran and has promised to teach completely in line with
LCMS teaching but is on neither the roster of the Synod nor that of a church body in altar and pulpit
fellowship with the Synod” is “in violation of Constitution Article VI 3 and Bylaw 2.5.2,” the commission
understanding “the term worship leader as used in this question to mean the individual performing the role
of the pastor in the public worship of the congregation, proclaiming the Word and/or administering the
Sacraments,” the commission found:

CCM Minutes – May 28–31, 2026 – Page 154